Update on Hanford's FFTF reactor

By Paige Knight, Hanford Watch
January 21, 1999

In December, Northwest environmental and public interest groups experienced the victory of their hard efforts of the past year to stop the tritium mission being proposed for the Fast Flux Test Facility (a sodium cooled reactor) by the USDOE, and broadly supported by the Hanford communities.

Hearings last January in Portland, Hood River and Seattle drew out nearly 1000 citizens, most of whom protested any new weapons missions for Hanford. Cleanup of the most contaminated piece of land in the Western hemisphere is the only acceptable mission for the Hanford Nuclear Reservation according to the citizens who turned out and the 8000 written comments that were received by the Department of Energy. No new waste streams should be added to those already threatening the Columbia River.

Other missions are still on the burner for the FFTF, although the earliest date of any possible decisions is thought to be April or May of 1999. One possible mission is producing plutonium-238 for space probe batteries. Our present source of Pu-238 is Russia, whose shaky economy "threatens" future supplies which are supposedly "needed" by the year 2004.

The other mission for the FFTF that is being widely supported by the Tri-Cities is the production of medical isotopes that can be used to "cure" cancers and other diseases. This projected mission has polarized the East side of the region from the West side. It is regarded by some as a "worthy" mission and is seen by others as a jobs issue for the Hanford Communities, which have felt the impact of huge job losses over the past 5 or more years. This will continue to be an important issue over the next year.